Machine for treating liberian coffee-fruit before shelling same.



No. 655,035. Patented luly 3|, |900. H.V L. VERWUHLT.

VIVIAGHINE F03 TREATNG LIBERIAN COFFEE FRUIT BEFDRESHEl-.LING SAN'lE.

N (Applicaton filed Nov. 26, 1897.)

(Nq ModeL) ne: nonms crine co, moraurno. wumc'rou, u. c

UNITED STATES PATENT EEICE.

I-IEINEIcII LUDWIG vERWoHLT, o'E PAsoEEoEAN, IsLAND or JAVA,

AssIeNoE To THE MAATsoHArrY TEE EXPLQITA'TIE vAN DE ooN-A srEUcTIEwINIIEL DE EEoMo, or SAME PLAGE.

MACHINE FOR TREATING LIBERIAN COFEEEFUIT BEFORE SHEILING SAME.

SPECIFICATION forming pare of Letters Patent No. 655,o35, dated .fr aiy e1, 1900.

, Application tiled November 26, 1897. Serial NIM 66011-78- (N0 model-3 To cir/ZZ whom, it may conc-ern:

Beit known that I, HEINRICH LUDWIG VEE- WOHLT, a subject of the Queen of the Nether-A lands, residing at Pasoeroean, in the Island of Java, have invented a new and useful Machine for Treating Codec Fruit or .Beans Before Shelling the Same, (for which I have applied for foreign p atents as follows,viz: England, No. 26,822, dated November 16, 1897; Germany, No. 100,381, dated November 11, 1897 Austria, No. 47 5,290, dated November 17, 1897; France, N o.i272,180, dated N0- vember 15, 1897; Belgium, No. 131,829, dated November 12, 1897, and British India, No. 79/189,830, dated February 22, 1898,) of which the following is a specification.

The object of the present invention is to produce a machine for loosening or softening the outer shells or hulls of 'coee-beans, so that the beans can thereafter be very quickly separated from the hulls in an ordinary hulling-machine. This is accomplished by subjecting the unhuiled coffee-beans to the stroking action of series oftangentially-disposed rotary beaters or arms arranged Within a series of chambers or compartments in an opv positely-rotating ribbed cylinder, the action being such that while the beans are not crushed the outer hulls will be softened or loosened. A

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed, and the accompanying drawings illustrate an efficient form of the machine embodyingmy invention.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a partial side elevation and part longitudinal section of the complete machine. Fig. 2 is a rear endpview thereof. Fig. 3 is a front end view thereof.

Referring to said drawings, c designates the cylindrical case or shell of the machine,which is rotatably supported upon a shaft w, eX- tending axially therethrough and journaled in suitable stationary bearings 1 on a stationary framework m2,' the casing being'di-4 vided interiorly into a series of compartments by transverse partitions y, which are loosely journaled upon the shaft, but attached to the casing and serve. to strengthen land support the same. These partitions detainthe beans in each compartment sufliciently long to in sure the proper treatment thereof, and the partitions have openings f in their peripheries through which the beans eventually pass through the several compartments successively. The discharge end of the cylinder is closed by a stationary head d, provided with an outlet d and supported by the brackets d2 on the stationary frame, as shown. The front end of the `cylinder is closed by a stationary head e, which is supported on a bracket e', attached to the stationary framework, as shown, and to head e is attached afeed-hopper a, as shown;

The receiving end of. cylinder c is mounted on a spider m, loosely journaled on shaft w and having an internal crown-gear m', which meshes with a pinion u, in turn meshing with a pinion 19,ixed on'shaft w,\as shown in Fig. 3, so that the shaft and casing will rotate in opposite directions. The shaft canbe driven by means of a belt running from a drivingpulley to fast and loose pulleys r and 'r' on the shaft, as shown. f

Upon the shaft w within each compartment are secured -a series of tangentially-arranged stirring-arms or beaters b,as indicated in the drawings, by which the beans in the compartments will, be thoroughlyagitated. These beaters also"te`nd to feed the beans toward the discharge end of the machine and act in conjunction with longitudinally-inclined inwardly-projecting ribs t', attached tothe inner periphery of the cylinder c. The spaces between the extremities of the beaters?) and the ribs vl as the` beaters pass the ribs are slightly narrower than the'sze of the unhulled beans, so that the latter cannot pass between the ribs and the beaters without being thoroughly worked thereby and the shells loosened therefrom.

In the present invention, which is designed for the preliminary treatment of Liberian coffee-beans, the action of the beaters upon the beans is not by direct strokes, but rather of a stroking character. For this purpose the beaters are not arranged radially but taugen tially on shaft w. This position ofthe beat; ers causes them to' loosen the outer shell of the beans in such a manner that the complete sneling or the saine by Subsequent treatments thereof is facilitated. n y

It will be observed that the cylinder c is slightly conical in form, being largest at its discharge end, so that the beans when on the bottom thereof tend to move from the left to the lghtjtoward the-disharge, Y The ribs i stir the beans and'c'ontnually lift them 'upf ward and bring them in position'tobe most eectivel y operated upon by the beaters. The cylinder rotates in one direction, While the shaft and beaters therein rotate in the oppositedirection ,the cylinder moving more slowly than the arms.

The ribsz'on the interiorof' the cylinder carry the beans upward, andas the beans fall off theribs vthey arestrucl; .by

the beaters and their shells loosened by the stroking action thereof.

` rior of th'e' cylinder or any of the compart-v lments therein `may be had'through aV longitu- -dinalopening in 'the-"side of the cylinder, whichis closed by a hinged door g, as indi! catedfin .the drawingsf The beaters b are Access to the inte;y

preferably 'stiff and made of Wroughtfinetal.

`Havingthus'described myinvention, what e I therefore claim as new,and'desire to secure` 1'.V The combination ofa cylinder, a series of transverse partitions therein dividing its` interior into 'a'series of transverse compart-` ments, said partitions having openings to permit the passage of material successively' from one compartment'to another, and a ,series of llongitudinally-disposed inwardly-projecting ribs 'attached 4toV theA cylinder within each compartment; with ashafteXtend-ingaxially thfug'h the cylinder and a spirallylarranged shaftvithin each .compartment and "means for oppositely-rotating the shaftand cylin- 4o der, for the purpose and substantially as described.

2. In a machine for treating cofteefbeans, the combination of a rotary cylinder, partitions therein dividing it into a series of transjverse communicating compartments,and longitudinally-inclined ribs 11, in each compartment;` witha rotary shaft extending axially through the cylinder and a series of tangential spirally-arranged beaters secured to said shaft within each compartment adapted to cooperate with the ribs to loosen the hulls of V.the c'oiee-beans, said cylinder rotating oppo- Asitely yto the beaters, for the purpose and sub- `stan tiallyas described.

3. vThe combination of a rotary conical cylinder, a series of partitionsrforming. transverse compartments therein, 4said partitions having openings at their peripheriesto perlinitthe passage of. material from one compartment to another a series of longitudinally inclined inwardly projecting ribs attached to ythe cylinder, with a rotary shaft extending through ythe cylinder, a spiral se- 'ries of ltangentiahbeaters attached to the 

